Remotely operated metal stamping and marking machine



Dec. 3, 1963 R. A. PANNIER 3,112,688

REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE Fi1ed Jan: 9, 19596 Sheets-Sheet 1 m N an IN VEN TOR. RALPH A. PAUL/IE2 H15 A rrozusv Dec.3, 1963 R. A. PANNIER 3,112,683

REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed Jan. 9, 19596 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR. RALPH/l. PAL/H152 H1: ATTORNEY R. A. PANNIERDec. 3, 1963 REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE 6Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 9, 1959 Illl I, Z a

IN VEN TOR. RALPH A. PALM/15E.

hks A TTQBMEY Dec. 3, 1963 R. A. PANNlER 3,112,688

REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed Jan. 9, 19596 Sheets-Sheet 4 uvmvron. RALPH A. PAN/wee wn I H15 A TToRuEY R. A.PANNIER 3,112,688

REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE Dec. 3, 1 963 6Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 9, 1959 INVEN TOR. HA1. PH A. PALM/IE3 H/sArron/ Ev Dec. 3, 1963 R. A. PANNIER 3,112,688

REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 6Filed Jan. 9, 1959 IN VEN TOR. RALPH A. PANM/EE Has A rrozvsv UnitedStates Patent 3,112,688 REMOTELY OPERATED METAL STAMPING AND MARKINGMACHINE Ralph A. Pannier, McCandless Township, Allegheny County, Pa.,assignor to The Pannier Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corportaion ofPennsylvania Filed Jan. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 785,968 13 Claims. (Cl. 101-4)This invention relates generally to improvements in metal stamping andmarking machines and more particularly to machines which may be remotelyset automatically to mark the proper indicia or materials beingfabricated.

In the present production and fabrication of materials it is desirableand in some instances necessary to stamp or otherwise mark the materialas it progresses through the mill. This marking may include the date,the character of the batch or mix making up the material, ingredients,the size or lineal weight, and if metal, the finish, the gauge, theheat, the section, together with the trademarks and other data. As thehistory of the product becomes more involved the marking or stampinglikewise becomes involved and in the progress of automation where aperforated card sets up a mill as to what the product will be and whichis thereafter automatically progressed from its inception to thefinished product, the scheme must necessarily include stamping andmarking of the product. This may include the marking of hot bullets oringots as disclosed in US. Patent 2,776,617 or it may be for rails, rodsand structural members, or plates, sheets and strips all of which may beeither hot or cold.

The marking device comprising this invention may lie horizontally andmark the edge of the material or it may be suspended to mark the topsurface. The marking includes stamping by the impression of indiciatherein or by printing, stenciling or the like which can be performed onhot as well as cold metal or other materials.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a markingmachine that can have the indicia to be stamped, selected remotely andautomatically. This involves step indexing of the character wheels byimpulses which are preferably electric and which may be manuallyinitiated by a pushbutton or by a perforated card which sets up thewhole of the manufactured run and as the material progresses through themill it becomes automatically identified at each stage.

To carry out this object the marking device is provided with anextensible head containing the marking or character wheels which arelocked when extended for marking but when retracted each wheel iscapable of being indexed to register the proper character and theposition of the wheel at all times is indicated at the remote controlstation. An interlock prevents the actuation of the character wheelindexing structure unless the head is retracted in proper position.

The marking device comprising this invention may be shifted to differentelevations for the purpose of marking the sides of material havingdifferent thicknesses such as for slabs, blooms, and ingots. Theelevation of the marking head is also remotely controlled and providedwith a check indication.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the followingdescription and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplificationwithout limiting the invention or claims thereto, certain practicalembodiments illustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of the marking machine comprisingthis invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation of the front end of the marking machinecomprising this invention.

3,1 12,688 Patented Dec. 3., 1963 FIG. 3 is a view in top plan of themarking machine comprising this invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view partly in section of the piston and cylinderstructure for actuating the marking head.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view in top plan of the resetting mechanismcomprising this invention.

FiG. 6 is an enlarged View in side elevation of the resetting mechanismcomprising this invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged View of the rear end of the resetting mechanismcomprising this invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the marking head comprising thisinvention with parts in section.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view in vertical section of the marking head withparts broken away and showing the setting of the manually operatedcharacter wheels.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view in vertical section of the marking headshowing the locking pawl of the automatically set character wheel.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view in side elevation of a modified form markinghead having a full complement of automatically set character wheels.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of FIG. 11.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3 the marking machine comprises the base member1 in the form of an inverted channel which is supported at its oppositeends by the outwardly facing vertical channel members 2, 3, 4 and 5.Pairs of legs 2 and 3 are connected by the transverse plate 6 and thepairs of legs 4 and 5 are connected by the transverse plate 7 which alsofunctions as a support for the hoist gear motor 8. Each of the channelmembers are also based by the triangular shaped gusset plates 10. Thepairs of legs 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 function as guides for the adjustableplatform member 11 which is formed as shown in FIG. 2 by the oppositelyfacing channel members 12 and 13 connected by the spaced lower platemembers 14, 15 and 16 and by the four tubular cross braces 17. The outerface of the channel members 12 and 13 is provided with the verticallydisposed spaced guides 18 to receive the opposite sides of the legs 2 to5 inclusive for guiding the vertical movement of the platform 11. Thecross plates 15 and 16 have secured to their underface the flangeportion 20 of the socket 21 which supports the vertically disposed screwmembers 22 that travel in rotary nuts in the jack housing 23, the outersurface of which is provided with worm gear teeth to mesh with the wormgear 24 on the elevating drive shaft 25. The elevating drive shaft 25extends between each of the jack members 23 and its rear end is providedwith a drive sprocket 26 connected by a chain 27 with the sprocket 28 onthe shaft of the gear motor 8. A guard 30 covers the chain 27 asillustrated in FIG. 2 but is omitted in the other figures for the sakeof clarity. Thus by rotating the gear motor 8 the elevating drive shaft25 may be rotated in either direction to operate the screw jacks 28 andraise or lower the platform 11. When a marking device of this characteris installed, it is ordinarily to mark a definite size of articles. Letit be assumed that the articles to be marked would be hot ingots orslabs passing the station of this marking device and these ingots orslabs would have different thicknesses and if it is desirable to placethe stamping in the center of the side of the ingot the platform is I 3chain 31 rotates the dial shaft 35 and causes the indicator 37 toindicate the level station to which the platform reposes to provide avisual contact at the location of the machine. However, the stop limitson the motor 28 provide a visual indication at the remote controlstation indicated at 38.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 the top flanges of the channel members 12 and13 forming the platform 11 are provided with the base wearing strips 40upon which the carriage 41 is mounted for reciprocation. A gib plate 42is provided above the strips 40 for the purpose of forming ways toslidably support the carriage 41 formed by the wearing strip 40 and thegib plate 42. Keeper plates 43 on top of the gib plates complete theconstruction of the ways.

The carriage 41 is essentially a hammer mounting plate and has securedthereto the front and rear hammer mounting brackets 44 and 45 whichsupport the hammer 46. The rear of the carriage or plate 41 has thespaced upstanding angle brackets 47 which are connected by the crosshead48 secured to the end of the piston 50 that operates in the cylinder 51.This piston is a doubleacting fluid piston having its control linesindicated at 52 and 53 for the purpose of sliding the carriage forwardto a position where the characters of the marker engages the object tobe marked and upon completion of this operation retracts the carriage tothe position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. A plate 54 extending across thechannel members 12 and 13 of the platform 11 supports the air cylinder51. This plate is made adjustable as indicated in FIG. 3 so that thelocation of the piston at its extended or retracted position may be setby moving the plate 54 relative to its mounting bolts indicated at 55.This adjustment properly locates the marker for stamping. As shown inFIG. 1 the carriage has secured on the underside of the hydrocheck stopmember 56 which engages the shoe 57 on the end of the return adjustablestop screw 58 which is loaded by the return spring member 59. Thisdevice determines the retracted position of the piston and carriage 41and operates in conjunction with the hydrocheck member illustrated at 60mounted on the underside of the plate 54 as shown in FIG. 1.

The hammer member 46 is shown in detail in FIG. 4 wherein the plungermember 61 is retained in the plunger holder 62 slidable in the nut 63.The plunger holder 62 has a collar 64 threadably connected therewith andis biased to engage the nut 63 by the spring member 65 which engages theopposite end of the spring chamber 66 of the forward housing 67 that isthreadably secured to the forward end of the rear housing 68 and isretained in place by the lock nut 69.

Y The plunger 61 extends through the chamber 66 into the chamber 70 ofthe rear housing 68 in which chamber the free piston 71 reciprocates.The end of the piston 71 strikes the plunger 61 to create the stampingforce. However this plunger is not supplied with air from the air supplyindicated at 72 until the trigger rod 73 engages the head member 74shown in FIG. 8. When the head with the stamping or marking deviceengages the article to be marked it will flatten itself against the facewithout pressure until the trigger rod 73 engages the head 74 causingthe trigger spring 75 to be compressed and initiate the operation of thehammer causing the piston to drive and strike the inner end of theplunger 61 which forces the head forward and causes the characters to bestamped or otherwise impressed on the article to be marked. As soon asthe piston 71 strikes the plunger 61, the trigger rod 73 is forcedforwardly by the spring 75. The hammer 46 is well known in the markingfield having been in use and on the market since before 1930 and itsdetailed structure is not claimed or believed necessary to thisdisclosure. The rear portion of the cylinder housing 68 is threadablyengaged to the valve housing 78 and is locked thereto by a lock nut suchas indicated at 69.

The channel members 12 and 13 of the platform 11 are provided with thespaced upwardly extending side plates 80 and 81 which are adjustablybolted into place and carry a transverse upper platform 82 to carry theresetting mechanism for adjusting or otherwise changing the characterson the stamping and marking head 74. Thus the platform 82 is stationaryrelative to the platform 11 and positioned above the hammer whileretracted. As more clearly shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, the platform 82has mounted thereon the spaced upwardly extending air cylinder brackets83 and 84 which are placed one in front of the other, each supporting apair of air cylinders 85 and 87, 86 and 88, the pistons 90 of whichextend rearwardly through their respective brackets and are providedwith the clevises 91 carrying the pins 92 which attach each clevis toits respective indexing arms 93, 94, 95 and 96. Thus the air cylinders85 to 88 are connected through their pistons to their index arms 93 and96 respectively. The arms 93 to 96 are connected by the bolts 100 totheir character wheel indexing bars 101, 102, 103 and 104 respectively.Each character wheel index bar 101 to 104 has its stop adjusting screw105 threadably engaging its bracket 106 and locked by the lock nut 107.This adjusting screw functions to engage the rear face of the slidebearing members 108 and 109 that slidably carry the character wheelindexing bars. The forward bearing housing 108 has four slots to receiveeach of the four bars, whereas the rear bearing 109 has only [two slotsextending all the way therethrough to receive the character wheelindexing bars 101 and 103, and the rear ends of the character wheelindexing bars 102 and 104 merely extend in the bearing 109 but nottherethrough.

The top of each index bar arm 93 to 96 inclusive is provided with anoutwardly extending finger 110 for engaging its respective limit switch111, 112; 113 and 114.

The intermediate portion of the plate 82 is slotted as indicated at 115in FIG. 5 to receive the character wheel indexing bar arms 94 and 96.However the rear pawls extend beyond [the plate 82. Thus when any one ofthe cylinders 85 to 87 are energized they move their respective indexbar dog forward, thereby sliding their respective character wheelindexing bar forwardly in the bearings 108 and 109 and the stroke ofthese cylinders 85 to 88 is such that they complete their full stroke atthe same time that they actuate their respective limit switch.

The forward bearing member 108 is provided with the spacer members 116and 117 on opposite sides thereof for gauging (the parallel plates orhead guide members 118 to lock the marking head against lateralmovement. The inner leading edges of these plates or members arechambered. These guide members depend from the bearing member andbetween which the marking head is retracted and locked against lateralmovement when the carriage is retracted as shown in full lines in FIGS.-1, 2 and 3.

To one side of the air cylinders is mounted the air inlet manifold 120which connects with independent lines 121 to the respective solenoidvalve members 122 which control the flow of air through the lines 123 tothe respective cylinders 85 to 87 inclusive. These solenoid valves alsoprovide for an electric indicating device indicated at 124 that providesa return circuit to indicate the completion of an impulse that isconnected to the terminal box 125 enclosed in the common terminalenclosure 126, all of which is mounted on the plate 82. Thus every timean impulse is supplied to open the solenoid valve and actuate one of the:cylinders this impulse is also relayed to the remote control station toindicate the operation of this cylinder has been made so the operationof the cylinders and the indicating device at the remote control stationremains synchronized as to what characters appear on the marking device.These circuits are interlocked with the operation of the master cylinderin operating the carriage 41 so that the cylinders 85 to 88 cannotfunction unless the head is completely retracted between the head guides118 so that their character wheels can be changed to have the indicia inaccordance with the material to be marked and in sequence with thetravel of the material past the marking station. The limit switches 111to 114 are likewise connected to the terminal block 125 for the purposeof carrying their information of the completion of the operation of theair cylinder back to the remote control station 38. a

As shown in FIG. 6 each of the character wheel indexing bars 101 to 104has a pawl member 130 pivoted thereto as indicated at 131 to operate upand down against the spring 132 the pawl being mounted within the slot133 in the character wheel indexing bar. The pawl 130 having a socket134 to receive the end of the spring 132, its other end being secured tothe face of its respective character wheel indexing bar by the bolts135. The top of the pawl 130 is provided with a stop member 136 whichengages the top of the indexing bar and prevents further downwardmovement of the pawl. The pawl will, of course, rotate in acounterclockwise direction when its finger 137 is passed over aprojection when the character wheel indexing bar is returned to itsnormal position as indicated in FIG. 6.

As shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and the head 7 4 has a face on one side that isslidably supported on the pillow block 138 mounted on top of thecarriage 4-1 so that the head can pivot about the vertical central axisof the pin 141 which connects the head 74 to the plunger 61 but will notpermit the head to twist about the axis of the plunger 61. The head 74-comprises the bifurcated member 141 having aligned openings to receivethe character wheel shaft 142 which is locked in place by the lockingscrew 143. This stationary shaft carries a series of character wheelsindicated generally at 144 and 14-5. The character wheels 144 arecapable of being changed remotely and they are four in number shown inthis particular setup illustrating the principles of this invention.There are seven character wheels 14-5 which are manually changed. All ofthe character wheels are, of course, rotatably mount.- ed on the shaft142 and a spacer such as illustrated at 146 spaces the end rotarymembers from the bifurcated arms of the head 141, whereas theintermediate 147 spaces the automatically and remote controlled actuatedcharacter swheels 144 from the manually set character wheels 145. Afriction pin 148 loaded by a spring 14*) engages the detents on theinner surface of the wheels 144, 145 to preposition the manual wheels atthe location where the character lands 151 are properly located formaking their impression in the horizontal plane indicatedat 152. Thuseach land section 151 has a character thereon and each land section itscorresponding friction recess 159 that requires considerable pressureexerted by the spanner wrench 153 to dislodge and change the same. Thespanner wrench has a finger 154 that must be inserted in the socket 155and an abutment 156 to engage a span distance on the wheel 145 in orderto overcome the friction pressure of the pin and spring 148 and 149.However, before this mechanically operated character wheel 145 can bechanged, the locking pin 157 must be drawn outwardly to the right inFIG. 8 to withdraw the key 153 from its respective engagements with theslots 155. Thus the key 153 extends for the full depth of the sevenmanual change character wheels 145 and the balance of the pin 157 is cutaway as indicated at 159 so as to skip the automatically adjustablecharacter :wheels 144 which are not provided with the slots 155 asindicated in FIG. 9. The locking pin 157 also is provided with itsfriction stop lei) spring loaded by the spring 161 and is held in placeby the screw member 162.

A second shaft 163 is held by the spaced projections of the bifurcatedmember 141 and is locked in place by the locking screw 164. This shaft163 is the pawl shaft and carries a series of pawl members 165, one foreach character wheel 144. However, the pawl is disposed opposite to theratchet wheel 1% which is preferably made integral with its respectivecharacter wheel 144. The ratchet is provided with a series of lockingseats 168 which fit g. the underface of the pawls 165. The pawls areheld in locked position by the spring member 170 which passes around thepawl shaft 163 and loops over the top of the pawl and engages the backof the bifurcated section 141 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 10.

Additional seats 171 are provided on 166 for each char acter land 17-2of the character wheel 144 for the reception of the finger 137 on thebottom of the pawl 130 carried by the character wheel indexing bars.Thus as shown in FIG. 1 when any one of the cylinders to 88 areenergized, the respective pawl has its finger 137 engage in acorresponding socket 171 to move the character wheel one position dragmg the pawl over the peak 173 to the next position thereby locking thecharacter wheel 14-4 in the next position. Thus by adding a series ofimpulses, one may index the character wheel 14-4, 360 and eachprogressive position will be indicated at the control station 38.

As shown in FIG. 2 the remote control station 38 has four pushbuttons174, 175, 176 and 177, eachof which controls the operation of thesolenoid valves 124 to actuate the respective character wheel indexingbars 101, 102, 103 and 194 and the character to which the indexingmachine has set the indexing wheel will show up in the latter windowsindicated at 178. A dial 180 is provided on the remote control stationto indicate the relative position of the indicator 3-7 and this may bemanually controlled by the pushbuttons 1181 and 1 82 for moving theplatform 11 up and down to the proper location.

A hammer fire pushbutton is i.dicated at 183. 184 represents anautomatic machine having a slot therein for passing perforated cards asindicated at 185 which receive the impulse and actuates the machineaccordingly and deposits the card in the slot 186 after it has completedits performance. Thus the remote control station 38 has either manual orautomatic control of the character wheel indexing machine and when themill is automatically set up to produce material in certain stages theindexing machine is set up by the same manner and being fully automaticeliminates human error so that-each article of manufacture is properlyand accurately marked, thereby avoiding material loss owing to humanerror and other factors of the present system.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, the head74' which is bifurcated asillustrated at 141' is provided with the larger cap screws 143' to holdthe character wheel shaft 142 in position and this head is provided witha series of seven character wheels, each of which is capable of beingchanged remotely as previously described. The head, of course, could'bemade larger to accommodate additional character wheels if desired. Eachcharacter wheel 144 is provided with an indentation 151 for each of itscharacter positions so as to provide a detent lock by the pin 148. Eachcharacter wheel likewise has its own integrally formed ratchet wheel 166 and the pawls 165 carried by the pawl shaft 163 for each ratchetwheel are held in p.ace by their separate springs 170. Each pawl isarranged to engage the ratchet wheel seat 168 and the ratchet is alsoprovided with the seat 171 for the rotation of the character wheel bythe finger 137 on the bottom of each pawl 13% mounted on the end of theindexing bars previously described.

The structure thus far of the head 74' is no different than thatpreviously described other than the fact that all of the characterwheels are capable of being remotely actuated.

The pillow block 138' is somewhat diiferent shape than that shown inFIG. 8 in that it extends forwardly to a point as illustrated at 200'and is likewise bifurcated as illustrated by the arms 201' and 202. Eachside of the bifurcated block 138 is provided with the cap screws 203that extend inwardly through the bifurcated member 200 and engage in anupwardly extending block member 204-, the inner surface 205 of which isarcuate as illustrated in FIG. 12. Thus the block 204 which is engagedandlocked in place by the cap screws 203 retains the bifurcated head 74'the under surface of which is movable on top of the block 138' whichpermits the head 74 to rock or slide back and forth about the centerpoint 206 of the spherical pressure head 207 on the end of the plungerholder 62' extending from the hammer 46. Thus the back of the bifurcatedhead 74' has a spherical socket to receive the spherical end of theplunger holder 62 but owing to the fact that the plunger 61 has limitedaxial movement when it is withdrawn the head 74 likewise has limitedmovement determined by the block 204. The plunger holder 62' cannottotally withdraw its spherical head from the spherical socket and thusthe movement of the head 74' although limited is nevertheless suflicientto permit the numbers or characters on the wheels 144 to find the flatface of the article of which they are marking before moving back on theplunger holder 62' which action will trigger the hammer causing theplunger holder 62' to exert the force on the head 74' to produce amarking from the character wheels on the object to be marked.

Thus in each of the heads 7 4' shown, there is capability of these headsto align themselves so that the numbers are flat against the object tobe stamped before the quick hard blow of the hammer is effective inimpressing the characters on the article. This provides accurate andlegible stamping when the face of the metal being stamped is askew tothe ordinary travel of the plunger holder 62. Although the head 74' maybe askew to the axis of the plunger holder 62', the blow is sufficientto make all of the character wheels leave their indentations. It issubstantially uniform depth without materially loading the end characterwheels.

' In the structure shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the block 204 thus returnsthe character head even though the plunger holder 62 is slightlywithdrawn from its spherical engagement. As shown in FIG. 11, thecharacter head 74' may travel substantially the thickness of the block204 before the latter engages the character wheels 144 which limit ofmovement is far greater than that ordinarily required in practice.

I claim:

1. A remotely operated marking machine consisting of a platform, acarriage reciprocally mounted on said platform, power means on saidplatform and connected to said carriage to reciprocally extend andretract the same, a marking head movably supported on and attachedrelative to said carriage, marking head guide means supported from saidplatform adjacent said carriage to receive and lock said movablysupported marking head against lateral movement when said carriage isretracted, rotary character wheels on said marking head havingcharacters around their periphery, selected characters of each wheelbeing positioned in alignment for marking, the aligned charactersinitially engage the material to be marked to move said marking head andflatten the characters against the surface of the material when saidcarriage is extended, pawl means supported from said platform adjacentsaid guide means for selective engagement with said rotary characterwheels for indexing the same when said marking head is locked againstlateral movement by said guide means, servomotor means connected toactuate said pawl means, a circuit energized from one remote station foractuating said servomotor means to align selected characters to bemarked on the material, and a second circuit energized from anotherremote station for controlling the actuation of said power means toreciprocate said carriage to flatten the selected characters on thematerial. V

.2. The marking machine of claim 1 characterized by a power driven jackmeans to raise and lower said platform, and a third circuit energizedfrom one of said remote stations to actuate said power driven jack meansand position said platform for marking different sized articles. 7

3. The marking machine of claim 1 characterized in that said rotarycharacter wheel has attached thereto a ratchet for receiving saidindexing pawl means and having seats thereon, and a dog to engage one ofsaid seats on said ratchet and hold said rotary character wheel in aselected position.

4. The marking machine of claim 1 characterized'in that said power meansto reciprocate said carriage and move said marking head into engagementwith the material to be marked is a fluid actuated piston cylinder.

5. The marking machine of claim 4 characterized by a stop engaged by theretracting carriage to cut the fluid pressure to said fluid actuatedcylinder and stop said carriage in its retracted position.

6. The marking machine of claim 1 characterized in that said head guidemeans supported from said platform consists of fixed spaced plates toreceive therebetween said marking head in its retracted position toretain and lock the same against lateral movement for indexing therotary character wheels.

7. The marking machine of claim 1 characterized in that said indexingpawl means to change said character wheels includes a pivoted springbiased member on a piston actuated slide, said servomotor meansactuating said slide, a stop for said slide, and a limit switch actuatedby said slide to retrieve said slide and actuate a panel :indicatorcorresponding to the character set on the character wheel.

8. The marking machine of claim 7 characterized by an electricallyactuated valve to control the operation of said servomotor means inactuating said piston to operate said slide.

9. The marking machine of claim 7 characterized by a stop on said pawlto engage the slide under spring pressure to hold it in operatingposition.

10. A marking machine consisting of a frame having a platform with amarking head guide, a carriage mounted for reciprocation in one plane onsaid frame, means to extend and retract said carriage, a marking headdirectly supported on said carriage for free movement laterally and in aplane parallel with the plane of reciprocation of said carriage,character marking wheels carried by said marking head for stampingarticles when said carriage is extended, said carriage when retracted toplace said marking head into said marking head guide and lock saidmarking head against lateral movement, indexing pawl means on saidplatform to engage and change the character marking wheels when saidcarriage is retracted and said marking head is locked against lateralmovement in said marking head guide.

11. The marking machine of claim 10 characterized by a marking headretaining means for supporting said marking head for free lateralmovement on said carriage and includes a vertical pin movably mounted insaid marking head in retaining it for lateral movement on I saidcarriage and in a direction transversely of the reciprocation of saidcarriage when presenting the indicia to the surface to be marked topermit the indicia on said character wheels to square themselves againstthe surface to be marked.

12. The marking machine of claim 11 characterized in that said means toextend and retract said carriage and move said marking head intoengagement with the material to be marked is a fluid actuated cylinder.

13. A marking machine consisting of a platform, a carriage reciprocallymounted on said platform, a surface on said carriage, a bifurcatedmarking head with a shaft extending across the bifurcation, characterwheels mounted on said shaft and having indicia on the perimeterthereof, marking head retaining means supported from said carriage tomovably retain said marking head for lateral movement on said surface,power means on said platform connected to reciprocate said carriage andextend and retract said movably retained marking head on said surface topermit the indicia on said character wheels to square themselves againstthe surface to be marked when said carriage is extended, said markinghead retaining means includes a vertical abutment supported from saidcarriage and engaging between the bifurcated portion to retain saidmarking head for laterai movement on said surface to permit the indiciaon said character wheels to square themserves against the surface to bemarked.

References Qited in the file of this patent 10 Dailey Dec. 5, WhittakerFeb. 13, Triplett Mar. 20, Pannier Feb. 10, Turner June 16, Muller July28, Cooper Aug. 31, ls leyer Sept. 28, Hendrickson Jan. 8, JacquardtDec. 31, Gustafson May 6,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Mar. 5,

1. A REMOTELY OPERATED MARKING MACHINE CONSISTING OF A PLATFORM, ACARRIAGE RECIPROCALLY MOUNTED ON SAID PLATFORM, POWER MEANS ON SAIDPLATFORM AND CONNECTED TO SAID CARRIAGE TO RECIPROCALLY EXTEND ANDRETRACT THE SAME, A MARKING HEAD MOVABLY SUPPORTED ON AND ATTACHEDRELATIVE TO SAID CARRIAGE, MARKING HEAD GUIDE MEANS SUPPORTED FROM SAIDPLATFORM ADJACENT SAID CARRIAGE TO RECEIVE AND LOCK SAID MOVABLYSUPPORTED MARKING HEAD AGAINST LATERAL MOVEMENT WHEN SAID CARRIAGE ISRETRACTED, ROTARY CHARACTER WHEELS ON SAID MARKING HEAD HAVINGCHARACTERS AROUND THEIR PERIPHERY, SELECTED CHARACTERS OF EACH WHEELBEING POSITIONED IN ALIGNMENT FOR MARKING, THE ALIGNED CHARACTERSINITIALLY ENGAGE THE MATERIAL TO BE MARKED TO MOVE SAID MARKING HEAD ANDFLATTEN THE CHARACTERS AGAINST THE SURFACE OF THE MATERIAL WHEN SAIDCARRIAGE IS EXTENDED, PAWL MEANS SUPPORTED FROM SAID PLATFORM ADJACENTSAID GUIDE MEANS FOR SELECTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID ROTARY CHARACTERWHEELS FOR INDEXING THE SAME WHEN SAID MARKING HEAD IS LOCKED AGAINSTLATERAL MOVEMENT BY SAID GUIDE MEANS, SERVOMOTOR MEANS